Proposed car wash denied variance for site on Tarentum Bridge Road in New Kensington

A proposal to build a $900,000 car wash on Tarentum Bridge Road in New Kensington was dealt a potentially fatal blow by the city’s zoning hearing board, which denied it a variance.

The Hutton Group was seeking permission to build the car wash at 215 Tarentum Bridge Road, where a building housing a Papa John’s pizza shop and a Cricket cellphone store is located. It needed a variance from the city’s zoning: The property is in a C-2 general commercial area, where car washes are not allowed.

The three-member board unanimously denied the variance to the city’s zoning because the applicant could not prove any hardships, zoning Officer Tony Males said.

According to Males, such hardships might include establishing that an unusual lot configuration prevents the property from being used for anything else; unusual topographic or land features limit the use of the property; or the lack of another place in the city where a car wash could be built.

Males said the applicant didn’t address any of those issues.

“They gave a presentation of the project and some details,” he said. “They did not address the hardship issue.”

A representative of the Hutton Group could not be reached for comment.

That there would be no place else to build a car wash in New Kensington would have been the main hardship the applicant could have tried to establish, Males said. But, he said, that would not apply because the city allows car washes in industrially zoned areas.

“Right now, there is some industrial property for sale,” he said.

While there is a car wash nearby on Caldwell Avenue, Males said it predates the city’s zoning. It was built in the late 1980s, and the zoning rule was adopted in 1994.

He did not know when the car wash at the GetGo across Tarentum Bridge Road at Giant Eagle was built.

Males said several residents expressed concern and opposition to the proposed car wash, primarily over noise and traffic.

Males said the applicant can appeal the denial to Westmoreland County Court.

Because the variance was denied, Males said the applicant withdrew its application to the city’s planning commission for final site plan approval.